Whiskers on his horse…funny new P.S.A. about diabetics managing their A1C levels

Just finished this one this a.m.    Its pretty funny stuff.  I hope ya like it.  Feel free to pass it around if you want to…..Thanks Bob

If you cant make the link work, you can see it and others at      www.youtube/1diabetic

Ran across this the other day, this is definitely a new one for me but perhaps this is old news.

In the middle of the night in a “typical” family home in Florida, a 12 year old girl, named Hunter, sleeps, while her German Shepherd, Diva, lies close by, snoozing on her own bed. All is well with the world…or is it? You see, several times during the night, Diva will get up and check Hunter’s scent. If Diva doesn’t like what she smells, she will alert Hunter’s parents…starting with a nudge, escalating to turning circles or to jumping, whatever it takes to get her job done.

A German Shepherd that can alert you of a dangerous BG, how cool is that?

Find the full story here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carrie-pollare/doggies-rule-the-story-of_b_185379.html

While you could get a tattoo which measures your blood glucose, I can see the benefits having a blood glucose sensor you can pet (even if it isn’t as accurate)

Doggies rule indeed.

Whiskers Brimley    One of my recent videos…..Sorry, I crack myself up…..

You gotta keep smiling with the D” 

Keep Smiling,  Keep Going…..............Bob

Entry event tagging really helps keep things in context when inputting your stats. When you tag entries it helps then aggregate trends and stats for that tag over time. You can then find out trends such as what your average blood sugar was before and after breakfast for example.

In order to encourage entry tagging and make it easier, we’ve recently pushed out a few small new feature updates. Previously you had to manually type in your tag for each entry with the added benefit of it auto-completing the tag name based on what you were typing.

Top Tags Pop-up Box

All you have to do is click on the tag input text-field and it will pop up. If you don’t want to select an existing tag and would rather enter a new one just start typing.

This makes it easy for you to have quick access to the tags you use the most (i.e: “Before Breakfast”, “After Dinner”, “High Sugar” etc).

Pop-up design credit and inspiration has to go to the Freckle team, they did a great job.

Auto-Tagging

Manual tagging is great, but what if you have a semi-routine schedule or habit? Such as always eating breakfast between 6am-8am, Exercising after work between 5pm-7pm or eating lunch late at 2pm-3pm?

Well now you can add auto-tagging rules to automatically tag your entries based specifically off some of these common routines in your schedule. Tags will be automatically attached to entries which match your rules. Right now the rules are based on time and entry type, but we’re hoping to expand it in the future to be able to match more criteria.

You can access your Auto-Tagging list in your settings (http://manage.sugarstats.com/auto_taggings) and there is even an example for you to create your own rules from. So now anytime you add an entry, via the web or mobile, if it matches any of your existing auto-tagging rules those tags will be added to that entry.

Using both the new tag pop-up box and the auto-tagging functionality is optional, so if you want to keep using the previous methods you’re welcome to do so.

Why Tag Entries?

Tagging is important to keep things in context. So if you add your tags to all your sugar entries for example, you can then go to your Last 30 Days page and see this:

These are just the first in a number of future tag enhancements we’re planning and we will be adding more and more new features based on your tags.

We hope you like it and that this makes tagging entries easier overall. If you have any suggestion, feedback or notice bugs feel free to let us know: support@sugarstats.com

For years, I have enjoyed performing Improv comedy with some very talented and funny people who have become friends. I have found it to be very like the life of a diabetic…(it probably helps that I are one).  Keeping the scene going to an obvious and unexpected conclusion is your goal…all while having a lot of fun along the way.

Some of the rules of improv are

No Blocking...if your improv partner says you are under an underpass with a tightrope walker….by goodness, thats where you are. If you say ..No, we are in a blender full of strawberries, then you just stopped the scene and it has nowhere to go. It is much harder for your partner to recover from that.

Everything is a gift…. That underpass or that tight rope walker can be expanded into some funny stuff. If you dont use it, you missed a great opportunity.

“Yes and”.... Whatever they hand you,  and I truly mean, whatever they hand you,......go with it. Accept it and add to it…”Why yes, we are under an overpass with at tightrope walker.   I hadnt noticed this new overpass over grandmas house before…..I see now why she’s joined the circus”

You are the expert…... No matter what, you are the expert on whatever they hand you. You take charge of what you have been handed, and your next move is on purpose.  If they say your are SpongeBob Muscle Pants,....then that is who you are, and whatever you say is right.  You must accept the premise, and take control….No Blocking…

So you can see, there are a lot of parallels in Diabetes management. Accept your situation, change what you can, become the expert, and maximize your outcome…...

If I had to call it, diabetes complications would be similar to a heckling, unruly, audience….Not a good thing.

Keep Going…........................Peace,    Bob

I recently tried Apidra for about 2 weeks as my endo thought it might be helpful. I really looked forward to what i hoped would be faster absorption rates that I had heard about.   Sadly to say, after 2 weeks, I am back on Humalog as I didn’t respond well to Apidra.   My wife finally convinced me to go back on the Humalog after about the third or fourth extreme low that she had to resurrect me from. As one who is hypoglycemic unaware most of the times, I dialed back my basal rates and I took less insulin, but the lows hit me really hard and without any warning….rather reminescent of NPH.

I also definitely found myself to be moody and morose and felt my overall mindset was suffering. I dont know if it was from all the lows or what, but it was not a good experience for me.  I am sure others have had positive results with Apidra, and I recommend they continue with what works for them .  For me however, it was not an improvement in my control…..more of a liability.   Sadly, I had hoped it would be an improvement regarding absorption rates….ie improved control, but it didn’t work out for me….

Keep Going,..................................Peace,    Bob